GAR: Brothers in Arms
by jim1195
Summary: Across the galaxy, civil war rages between the mechanical menace of the CIS and the brave clone soldiers of the GAR... A series of war stories written in collaboration with wolf730. Mostly OCs, will add tags if anyone else features prominently enough to warrant it.


**Geonosian Dawn**

Commander Gage stood in the hanger bay, watching the troopers rush about as they prepared for the impending invasion. They were nervous, none of them had ever wanted to come back here, not after the first time. But Gage didn't have time to reminisce about that first day, as he so often did before a mission, there was business to attend to. When the shuttle he'd been waiting for pulled into the hanger, Gage picked up his bucket and walked toward it, mumbling under his breath.

"Late, not exactly off to a good start."

He stopped at the bottom of the ramp, nodding to the pilots as they passed, before snapping to attention as he saw the small Pantoran woman. She wasn't what he was expecting in their new Jedi general, but it looked like she was it. He saluted, something that appeared to make her uneasy.

"Ma'am."

"Commander Gage?"

"Yes, ma'am, CC-3587, 33rd Infantry Battalion, at your service."

The blue blue-skinned woman was short, barely chin-height to Gage, and she was quite clearly terrified. _Great_ , the trooper thought _, another scared kid in over her head_. He wondered how long this one would last.

"It would appear that I am to be your new general."

"That it would, ma'am. If you'd follow me, we're behind schedule."

"I apologize for my late arrival; my orders only came through a few days ago."

"Problem with war on a galactic scale, ma'am, just getting replacements is a logistical nightmare."

"May I ask what happened to my successor, where he is now?"

"I just finished scrubbing the last of him off my armor this morning."

"Oh."

"Landmines, never saw it coming."

The two made their way up through the ship to the tactical hub at the rear of the bridge, where a hologram of High General Kenobi waited to brief the newly arrived general on the mission she and her men would be undertaking.

"General Kirana."

She bowed to the hologram, Gage noticing that she blushed at Kenobi's use of her new rank.

"Master Kenobi, I apologize for my tardiness."

"It's not an issue, we're still waiting on a report from our ground assets."

Another figure materialized across the table, an armored man, crouched, as if sheltering himself behind low cover. Kenobi addressed the new arrival with a hint of exacerbation in his voice.

"Colonel, so glad you could join us."

"Sorry general, we ran into some trouble and had to divert away from Point Rain."

"Are you under fire?"

"No, but I'm sitting on top of a whole nest of the damn bugs, so we need to make this quick."

"Very well. The 33rd Battalion's main objective will be a fortress spire serving as the main airfield for the north western hemisphere, Col. Marczak will give you the details of what you're up against."

An image materialized on the holo-map, displaying a massive spire at least two kilometers in height and the surrounding terrain. As the Colonel spoke, visual indicators highlighted features he pointed out.

"The bugs have known we were coming for months, so they've had plenty of time to fortify these positions out the ass. What you've got here is enough anti-armor and triple-A to decimate a legion, all covered by a planetary class shield generator fleet couldn't break through if you gave them a month. There's only one way in that isn't suicide, and trust me, you're not going to like it."

The terrain map was replaced with a floating image of the tunnel complex that ran underneath the spire.

"These tunnels are your best bet at getting in there alive, but their dark, and crawling with angry locals. This map was the best we could get with the equipment on hand, it might be a bit sketchy, but it's going to have to do. Doesn't look good for your boys, Gage."

"Does it ever?"

"All the same, I don't envy you. Good luck, Marczak out."

The Colonel disappeared, leaving Kirana and Gage alone with Kenobi's hologram, hand covering his eyes as he shook his head.

"Cynicism aside, the Colonel is correct, this will not be easy. However, your success is vital to the rest of the invasion, that spire must fall."

Gage responded in typical clone fashion, with an excess of bravado.

"You can count on us, General, bugs won't know what hit 'em."

"Excellent. In order to keep pace with the rest of the invasion, as well as limit casualties, the attack will commence before local dawn. May the force be with you, general."

…

Jedi Knight Che Kirana had not been prepared for the responsibility she found so suddenly thrust upon her. It's not that she was inexperienced as a Jedi, she'd been a Knight since before the war began, but her work in the archives had kept her in the Temple during most of that time. Unfortunately, the high attrition rate among the Jedi generals of the Grand Army had forced the Council to put many young Knights such as her into military roles they'd never been trained for. This put her in sharp contrast to the man she now found as her second in command. Commander Gage was exactly what she'd expected a clone to be, clean-cut, professional, confident, even down to the swagger in his step, though she suspected the later was a result of the kama he wore at his waist.

She looked on as he introduced her to the men of the 33rd, a thousand soldiers in gleaming white armor highlighted with the black striping that marked them as members of the unit.

"All right boys, listen up! First order of business, this is General Kirana, she's the new boss, so she's stuck with us until she finds something better, or we're all dead, whichever comes first. By now, you know that whoever was supposed to hold this rock after we took it the first time around let the bugs take it back. Apparently, no one ever thought to check what the bastards were doing in their massive underground complexes, which seems like a pretty big oversight to me. But I'm just a trooper, so what do I know? Unfortunately, we get to correct this mistake by assaulting a heavily fortified position with little to no support or accurate intel on what might be holding up inside, business as usual. Remember, we're the lynchpin of this invasion, anything short of total victory is not an option, we will complete this mission, or die trying! Into the boats, boys, let's teach 'em a lesson they won't forget!"

Kirana followed Commander Gage as he led the way to the command gunship where they'd both be riding. As they approached, she noticed that the nose of the craft bore a stylized image of a female human Jedi she did not recognize. Curious, she inquired to Gage about it.

"Who's that?"

"General Verosi, she was our first general."

"What happened to her?"

"Eaten, long story."

"Ah. You don't have much luck with Jedi, do you?"

"No, ma'am, we don't. Three generals so far, all KIA, but I'm still here. Says something about you Jedi, don't it?"

She didn't really want to know what Gage meant by that, so she decided to drop the conversation altogether. There was, however, one more question she had to ask.

"Why didn't you ever paint over it?"

"The boys liked that particular image, ma'am, it's a real morale booster. But if you want, we can always put you up there."

…

While the troop bay of a LAAT/i or "larty", as Che had heard the clones call them, was large enough for its purpose of carrying of carrying thirty armed men into battle, it was far from comfortable for the passengers. Luckily, Che was half a meter shorter than most troopers, and her shoulders were far narrower, so everyone in the command gunship had a bit more room than if her space was occupied by a trooper. Even so, she had no idea how the men around her seemed so calm despite the cramped conditions and impending battle.

"Why'd it have to be Geonosis? The whole planets nothing but bugs, takes all the fun out of being a liberator. Now Ryloth, when we rolled into town there the locals lined the streets throwing flowers, and the women…"

Gage cut the trooper off before he could elaborate any further.

"Hound! Not in front of the general."

"Sorry sir, I'm just saying, it's more fun with 'friendly natives'. You know what I'm saying, right Otto?"

Otto replied with a noncommittal grunt. The clone, who's helmet was stenciled to resemble a human skull, didn't say very much, at least not as far Che had seen.

"I don't know Hound; on Ryloth they didn't let us bring the flamethrowers. Where's the fun in that?"

"We're not all pyros like you, Hotspot. Come on, Jager, Doc, you guys get it, right?"

Jager looked up from checking his rifle.

"I'm with Hotspot, there were to many rules of engagement on Ryloth. Besides, I like hunting bugs, more of a challenge. And what are you asking Doc for anyway, he couldn't even talk to any of those women."

"That didn't seem to matter much to them."

The medic spoke up in his own defense.

"They didn't speak basic, at least not that I heard, so how was I supposed to stop them?"

"Why would you want to?"

"Because, Hound, not all of us are intent on sticking our…"

Gage once again interceded.

"Hey! I said knock it off!"

The commander turned to Che.

"Sorry about them ma'am, they're a bit…. Excitable."

"It's okay, commander, I take no offense."

The gunship began to rattle as anti-aircraft fire burst in the air around them. Once again, Che, who was desperately clinging to the rail above her, found it odd how calm the clones remained. All around her, the troopers readied their gear, preparing both physically and mentally for the battle to come. As they continued through the flak, Gage spoke.

"I swear; anyone makes a crack about their aim…"

"Well sir, now that you mention it…"

Hound was cut short by a direct hit to the craft's starboard engine, sending the vehicle plummeting toward the surface in a semi-controlled dive. As the ship spiraled downward, Che found herself being violently thrown around the compartment. Despite the best efforts of Gage and others to grab her, Che's head smacked into the armored bay door and her vision went black.

She awoke to the sounds of explosions and blaster fire, worsening what was already a splitting headache, and saw the face of a clone looking back down at he.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine."

She struggled to her feet, bracing against what had been the floor for support. The gunship had landed on its side, dislodging most of the gear stowed inside and injuring at least a dozen troopers whom she could see propped up against the walls being tended to by Doc.

"It's not looking good, general, we came down half a click short of the landing sight, and half the men can't be moved."

"What about the other gunships."

"The one's that made it through are redirecting to our position, we lost at least three on the way in, not including us."

The distinctive rumble of the larty's repulsor engines could be heard coming from outside as the rest of the battalion arrived at the crash site.

 _What am I supposed to do from here?_ Che thought to herself, _this wasn't part of the plan_.

As if reading her mind, Gage pulled her aside and showed her a map of their current location.

"Ma'am, we're not going to make it to the original entry point, not with the volume of fire we're taking. I recommend that we break into the tunnels leading into the spire here, about fifty meters to our east, using demo charges."

"It doesn't seem as if we have much of a choice, commander."

"No ma'am."

…..

The tunnel collapsed in a cloud of dust, crushing two Geonosian sentries and allowing the troopers to rush down into it, and out of the kill zone that the bugs had set up above ground. This entire mission had gone to shit as soon as it started, they'd lost a hundred men on the way in and another twenty wounded had been sent back with the remaining gunships. Now, they were walking into a complex tunnel network crawling with enemies, with only a questionably accurate map to guide them. Gage would've loved to show his usual bravado and say how they'd been in tighter spots before, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to convince himself of that.

"Light on boys, and keep your heads on a swivel."

"Sheesh, Otto, I think you went a bit overboard on the charge."

The clone made a low noise that sounded like chuckling as he kicked aside one of the crushed Geonosians' weapon.

"Does he ever say anything?"

"Not so far ma'am."

"Sometimes I like to think he's saying something, right Otto? _Yea, Hound, that's why you're the best!_ Why, thank you Ott… ow!"

"Cut it out you two."

"It's not my fault, sir, he hit me."

"You're gonna get hit again if I have to come back there."

It was slow going through the tunnels, mostly because they had to operate using helmet lights and the glow from the general's lightsaber, but also because their map was only accurate half the time. They wandered for about fifteen clicks before they finally found the base of the spire, and what seemed like the whole damn Geonosian army.

"Incoming!"

Sonic rounds impacted the walls surrounding the clones as they exchanged fire with the numerically superior bugs. Dust and smoke further reduced visibility, and Gage had lost track of the general after she'd attempted to deflect one of sonic rounds with her lightsaber, only to be thrown back by the concussive blast.

"Hotspot, flamethrower!'

"On it boss! Burn, you bastards, burn!"

The clone broke cover, cackling and spraying with his flamethrower as he steadily advanced down the corridor. The bugs panicked, most attempting, unsuccessfully, to flee the column of flame that was engulfing their comrades. Within a minute it was over, the only remnant of what had been a Genosian battalion being charred corpses, some still alive and screaming until a trooper happened by to end their suffering. With the threat dealt with, Gage looked around for General Kirana, finding her on the ground about ten meters back from where she'd been hit. He knelt down, poking at the woman with his rifle in an attempt to rouse her. Her eyes eventually opened, but the delay was enough to worry Gage.

"Are you okay, ma'am?"

"Yes, what happened?"

"You can't try and deflect sonic rounds, they explode when the containment field ruptures."

"Oh."

"Are you sure you're okay, general, that's the second time you've been out today. I am prepared to assume command if you'd like to take it easy."

"And how would I do that, commander?"

"I can have Doc wait with you here while we complete the mission, I don't want to lose another general, especially not on the first time out."

The general pulled herself up, waving off Gage's attempt to help her.

"Your concern is appreciated, commander, but I will not sit back while you still risk your lives."

Gage smirked under his helmet.

"Yes ma'am."

….

Che wasn't sure she was ready for what would come next. Around her, troopers stacked up on the doorways which separated the catacombs from their real objective, the spire. But the spire, and the legion of battle droids guarding it, where not the cause of her concern. No, she was worried because Gage wasn't standing next to her.

"General, bravo team in position, ready to climb."

Gage was outside, waiting for her to distract the spire's defenders long enough for his team to climb up the outside and take the hanger. She took a deep breath to calm herself before responding.

"Understood, commander, we will begin our assault."

Che turned to Hound, who hadn't left her side since they'd separated from Gage, probably on orders from the commander to keep her alive.

"Sergeant, are the men in position?"

"We're ready when you are, ma'am."

She nodded, and all hell broke loose.

Breaching charges detonated and blasters fired as the troopers rushed into the first sublevel of the massive, hollowed out rock formation. Droids and Genosians were waiting for them, but their hastily prepared defenses were no match for the clones' practiced precision.

Within twenty minutes they'd fought their way up through the mostly empty and lightly defended storage sublevels, but the advance quickly stalled as the enemy became convinced that the real attack was coming from below rather than outside. Their situation was not improved by the fact that the Geonosian architects had anticipated this eventuality, and made the interior of the spire very easy to defend against anyone trying to work their way up from ground level.

Che found herself sheltered behind a pillar, occasionally deflecting blaster bolts, but otherwise having little effect on the battle going on around her. She suddenly became aware of a presence behind her, and turned to find Hound and Jager were now sharing her cover.

"Having fun, general?"

"Leave her alone, Hound, can't you see she's busy trying to think our way out of this."

She got the feeling the two were mocking her, but was distracted by a rocket which exploded a little too close for comfort.

"Shit!"

The troopers chuckled as the detonation scared her halfway up the pillar the three were protected by. Che glared at the two.

"Don't worry, general, we'll teach 'em."

Hound stuck his head around the pillar.

"Hey! Didn't your mother ever teach you not to shoot at a lady!"

The only response Hound received was another rocket, which narrowly missed his head.

"There's just no talking to these guys. Corporal, teach that clanker some manners."

Jager gave a mock salute, then quickly popped out from behind cover and fired a shot. No more rockets came.

Feeling Jager's smug satisfaction, Che couldn't help but smile. War, a matter of life and death for every other being in the galaxy, was like a game to these men who were literally built for it. Or maybe this was how all soldiers were. She thought about this until Hound's voice pulled her back into the moment.

"General?"

"What?"

"What's the plan, ma'am?"

That was the problem, she didn't have a plan. By now, Gage had to be at least half way up the spire, though he hadn't reported in yet. His progress, however, wasn't really all that relevant to their current situation. But if they held here long enough, Gage would be able to come down from above and get behind the droids… Her train of thought was interrupted when she noticed that Hound and Jager where staring at her.

"What?"

"Ma'am, I hope you don't mind me asking, but can't you just run over there and start cutting them up with your lightsaber?"

"Yea, you know, Jedi stuff; dodge a few bolts, throw some droids around with your mind."

The thought had occurred to her, but she was never good at any of that sort of thing. On the other hand, she still had a better chance of making it then any of the clones did. If she could just make sure that she did enough damage quickly enough…

"Do we have anymore charges?"

"Otto does. What are you getting at, ma'am?"

"I can run them over there and blow a hole in their line, then you come in and mop them up."

The lack of hesitation or skepticism Hound showed before calling for Otto showed he had more confidence in her abilities that she did. The mute trooper quickly made his way over to them, nonchalantly ignoring the torrent of blaster fire coming from the enemy line, and handed over his pack, still stuffed with enough explosives to blow a sizeable chunk out of a star cruiser. Che took it and slung it over her shoulder, beginning to rethink just how suicidal this plan was.

"Go now, ma'am, we'll cover you."

Hound, Jager, and Otto opened up in the rough direction of her target, an E-Web emplacement roughly in the center of the enemy lines. Che took a deep breath, counted to three, then charged out into the open.

Funny thing about the Force that it's hard for a lot of people to understand, when a Jedi is under stress it makes their reflexes twice that of a normal being. It's not that the Force makes time seem to move slower, adrenaline will have that effect in most humanoids without making them react much quicker, what's happening is the Jedi is seeing things _before_ they happen. That effect is why Che made it the hundred meters across open ground to that gun emplacement, tossed the pack, dived to the ground, and put a five-meter-wide crater in the floor clean through to the level below.

The concussion and fireball created by the blast was enough of a distraction to the bugs and droids for the clones to have made it up on top of them before their ears stopped ringing. Che, for her part, lay on her back grinning up at the ceiling because she was just happy to have survived. Once again, it was Hound that dragged her back into reality.

"General? Are you dead? For the love of… Otto, your damn 'special' charges turned the general's brain into jelly!"

To his credit, Otto did seem genuinely concerned when he and Doc joined Hound and Jager as the four looked down at her, still grinning like an idiot. Doc knelt down and started snapping his fingers in front of her face.

"Ma'am? Ma'am? General Kirana?"

"What's the diagnosis, Doc?"

"You might be right, Hound…"

Che finally managed pull herself together enough to respond to the concerned troopers.

"I'm fine, Doc, just a bit shaken up, and happy to be alive."

Hound offered his arm and she used it to pull herself up as the sergeant resumed his normal joking nature.

"Now that's what we were talking about, ma'am, clankers didn't even see you coming! Well, I guess they saw you coming, but they couldn't hit you!"

Otto grunted in affirmation and Che couldn't help but feel proud that she'd managed to impress them.

…

Gage loved being able to get in behind someone. Dammit, that's not what he meant, been spending too much time around Hound.

What he did mean was that once they'd made it up to the hanger, taking the rest of the spire was easy. The fortified chambers, passageways, and stairwells that made life a living hell for anyone trying to fight their way up, were entirely exposed to anyone working their way down, an intentional design quirk that would have worked to the Seps advantage any day but today. By the time Gage's men hooked up with the rest of the 33rd, every Geonosian and battle droid in the place was either dead, a prisoner, or scrap metal, mission accomplished even if the battalion looked like they'd been dragged through a pile of shit then beaten half to death. And, as an added bonus, their new general hadn't gotten herself killed, though she looked worse than just about anyone else still breathing.

"Ma'am."

"Commander, I trust you were successful in securing the upper levels."

"Just like I thought, general, droids never saw us coming. You look even more shook up then when I left."

"Yes, I was in close proximity to a rather large explosion."

Gage smirked under his helmet.

"I've got to talk to Otto about these 'special' charges of his."

Che laughed, something which surprised Gage.

"Have you called command yet?"

"No ma'am, your mission, you do the honors,"

He held out a comlink, which she took, activated, and said the words she'd rehearsed in her head a dozen times in the past five minutes.

"This is General Kirana, enemy air assets neutralized, you are go for landing at point rain."

The voice that answered had a high class inner core accent.

"Excellent General, stand by for extraction."

Che handed the device back to Gage, who secured it to his gauntlet. He looked over the general once again. She was different than she'd been the first time he'd seen her little over twelve hours ago. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having her around after all.

 **A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read this first installment in what will hopefully be a lengthy series produced by myself and wolf730 (** **u/6771725/). Further installments will be released sporadicly, and will likely consist mainly of oneshots following different units, but we may revisit some later down the line. Please feel free to leave your thoughts in a review, or you can message either me or Wolf.**


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